[sacw] SACW Dispatch | 9 Aug. 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch
9 August 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

#1. Making a peace process work Part- II
#2. A Flowing tribute to Ali Sardar Jafri
#3. India: Gujarat - Sangh Parivar's Lab
#4. PAKISTAN: Not Enough Protest Against Death Penalty

_____________________

#1.

The Hindu
9 August 2000
Op-Ed.

MAKING A PEACE PROCESS WORK - II

By Radha Kumar

THE ENGLISH language press in Pakistan has begun to talk about autonomy
as the solution in Kashmir. Several commentators add that Pakistan
should acquiesce in, but not formally sign up to, such a solution.
Pakistan should not ask for tripartite talks, says Mr. M. P. Bhandara in
Sunday's Dawn, because it might lose its right to act as a monitor when
autonomy begins to be implemented, and in the future. An unsigned
article on the opinion page of The News goes even further: the solution,
it hazards, is likely to regularise the Line of Control. As no leader
will have the courage to sell this solution to the people, the author
concludes, U.N. arbitration will be the best option. In other words, a
debate over the constituents in the Kashmir talks has begun, which rig
htly takes the potential solution as its point of departure. Mr.
Bhandara suggests that while staying out of tripartite talks, the
Pakistan Government should support the Hurriyat Conference and the
Hizbul Mujahideen in formulating a set of autonomy proposals which
include: a two-thirds reduction of Indian troops in the State (whose
current strength he puts at 700,000); a return to the 1950 order under
Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which should be made
irrevocable; free and fair elections under the supervision of national
and international human rights organisations; and a soft border along
the LoC, with freedom of movement and trade to be regulated by the
Valley's elected Government. The Hizbul Mujahideen, he suggests, might
become the reconstituted police force for the Valley. `Azad Kashmir'
should have the same relations with Pakistan that the Valley has with
India. If autonomy is seen to work, India and Pakistan can make Jammu,
Ladakh, and the Northern Areas a part of the autonomy arrangements, or
they can hold a plebiscite to choose which country they want to be a
part of.

These proposals make an interesting comparison with the Kashmir
Government's State autonomy report. On the overall question of Article
370, and the removal of the bulk of the amendments made to it from 1954,
there is little difference. But the J&K Government's State autonomy
report recommends autonomy for the whole State, whereas Mr. Bhandara
proposes it be tried first in the Valley. This is an interesting idea,
but fraught with complications. If the Valley is to be given an
exclusive status, the trifurcation of the State will become inevitable,
with the attendant problems of haggling over whether and which parts of
Jammu region should join the Valley. More troublesome still, the
question of the Kashmiri Pandits' position in the Valley will be
highlighted, with Panun Kashmir demanding its own chunk. To this extent,
Mr. Bhandara's proposal falls into a similar trap as that of the
U.S.-based Kashmir Study Group (for a demilitarised independent vale of
Kashmir), while avoiding its recommendation of independence for the
Valley. The experience of Bosnia has shown that attempts to create new
religio-territorial arrangements - with or without sovereignty - in a
situation of breakdown can lead to further conflict and/or
disintegration.

This problem also underlies the Kashmir Government's regional autonomy
report, which proposes the creation of eight districts in the State.
While it uses a combination of ethnic - in religious and cultural terms
- demographics, geographic and economic criteria in defining the
districts, attempts to adopt such measures in a situation in which there
has been no devolution at all will only stimulate chauvinist interest
groups. In this case, the Sunni majority districts will tend to draw
into one bloc, leading to either Mr. Bhandara's or the Kashmir Study
Group's configuration. For Ladakh, Shia domination over a newly- created
Kargil district, with its potential stranglehold over the rest of
Ladakh, could raise new fears of Shia-Buddhist tensions.

By contrast, the Irish peace process avoided sub-territorial questions
by devolving at several levels hard on each other's heels. First Britain
devolved to its regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which
were granted Assemblies and the rights to make economic and
communication arrangements with each other. The fact that it had
devolved nationwide did not stop Britain from recognising that Ireland
had a special status, different from that of the other regions. Britain
and Ireland formed an inter- governmental conference for Northern
Ireland affairs, and created an all-Ireland Council for regional trade
and development. Meanwhile, the two countries worked towards all-party
talks on devolution within Northern Ireland, to ensure that decisions
emerged through a process of negotiations which was ratified by wide
local representation. In the talks, the question was not of
sub-territorial but of political and administrative devolution - forming
a Northern Ireland Government, getting the Unionists to agree to po
wer-sharing with the nationalists, setting up a commission for police
reform, holding elections, and moving towards demilitarisation in tandem
with militants' decommissioning.

The Kashmir and Ireland situations are not, of course, identical.
Kashmir already has an Assembly, and though its powers and functioning
are severely limited there is no local opposition to these limits being
removed, unlike Unionist opposition in Northern Ireland. Similarly,
Kashmiri administration and a Kashmiri police force will be welcomed if
they are locally representative. And the present Kashmir Government
supports the Union Government-Hizbul Mujahideen talks, even though they
are not a part of them. These are promising elements which could make a
Kashmir peace process easier than the Northern Ireland one, though
anyone expecting a quick fix would be deluding themselves and setting
the peace process back. Northern Ireland has taken seven years to come
this far, but each incremental step has strengthened the peace.

The most striking difference, however, lies in the relation between
India and Pakistan. Unlike Britain and Ireland, the Kashmir peace
process has begun at a time when Indo-Pakistan relations are at their
nadir. We do not need the Northern Ireland example to tell us that peace
cannot be sustained when closely concerned neighbours are not engaged in
it: further away from Cyprus, both Greece and Turkey made a settlement
on the island impossible until recent rapprochement between the two has
raised new hopes of overcoming the hostilities on the island. Mr.
Bhandara and the unsigned commentary in The News are right, and also
generous, in saying that Pakistan might be better served by allowing
autonomy to emerge through talks between Government of India and
Kashmiri leaders. But for any peace in Kashmir to be sustained,
Indo-Pakistani hostility will have to end. Otherwise the borders will
remain volatile and the temptation to engage in either cold or hot war
will remain. In this context, Pakistan's Chief Executive, General Pervez
Musharraf's offers to India on the air and through independent channels
- though it is not yet publicly known whether these have been formally
iterated - might allow a new departure. Thus far, Pakistan has refused
to link the offer of a no-war pact with winding down support for
militancy in Kashmir. If Mr. Kuldip Nayyar's recent revelation that
Pakistan is willing to effect a wider militant ceasefire has any
substance, however, it could plug the gap between a no-war pact and a
proxy war. In itself, the statement needs to probed through followup,
especially so if it is accompanied by a process which might lead to
militant decommissioning and demilitarisation. The new possibility, that
it might be acceptable to replace tripartite talks by simultaneous
parallel track talks, should surely spur India to begin preparing the
ground for talks with Pakistan. Six months ago, no one thought a Kashmir
peace process was even possible. Now that it has begun, it should not be
allowed to waste away because of reluctance to negotiate with those whom
you do not trust.

(Concluded)

______

#2.

Indian Express
9 August 2000
Op-Ed.

RAGING AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT

by Mushirul Hasan

We the dwellers in the ruins of love

Sowed the trees of our dreams in the sand of yesterday;

There being no shade, we sleep under the desire for shade.(N.M. Rashid:
1912-1976)

His attire may not have changed for decades, as he flitted in and out of
Mumbai to enrich India's cultural life. Maybe, he wore in the
mid-thirties, the same loose-fitted Lakhnavi pyjama as a student at the
M.A.O. College. Maybe, he always ran his hands through his hair as he
spoke or recited his poems in mushairas. Certainly, his soft but
firm voice had not changed over time. He spoke poignantly and elegantly
on his favourite themes. His eloquence was legendary, reminding his
admirers of the best traditions, now forgotten, of marsiya (elegy)
recitation. His numerous books and essays portray vividly and with great
artistic skill the social realities of living under colonial rule and
post-colonial governments.

Outside the public spaces, he was a very vivacious and amusing talker
with a strong sense of wit and humour that seems to come naturally to
men of culture and refinement among the Urdu-speakers. During his
lifetime, Ali Sardar Jafri had more than his share of detractors. His
poetic sensibilities were called into question not by serious scholars
but by anti-communist polemicists. ``As soon as the poet in him hands
over the pen to the propagandist,'' wrote one of them, ``the beauty
somehow vanishes... He is angry, but there is no nobility in his
anger.'' He was chided for hobnobbing with and seeking favours from the
ruling establishment from the days of Indira Gandhi. To some critics,
Bertrand Russell's description of Bernard Shaw -- as an iconoclast he
was admirable, but as an icon rather less -- applies to Jafri.

My reasons for writing this column on Jafri may not make sense in this
day and age. The word `composite culture', the cornerstone of his
philosophy, will sound hollow to those who have driven the Kashmiri
Pandits out of their homes or the militants who have killed innocent
pilgrims on their spiritual journey to Amarnath. This is, surely, not
the Islam that Sultan Zainul Abidin or the great Sufi saints of Kashmir
professed and practiced. Give peace a chance, Jafri would have said, in
the wounded Valley.

Jafri's political credo rested on a strong commitment to rationalist
thought; hence his fascination for Mir and Iqbal. Sadly, however, his
rationalism would not appeal to the persons responsible for jettisoning
the `Towards Freedom' project of the Indian Council for Historical
Research. As a champion of diversity, he would have said that if
individuals are to retain that measure of initiative and flexibility
which they ought to have, they must not be all forced into one rigid
mould; or, to change the metaphor, all drilled into one army. In the
words of Faiz, ``Let colour fill the flowers, let the breeze of early
spring blow.''

Yet, let us not allow the voices of the Jafri's and the Kaifi Azmi's to
be stifled by the weight of religious or political orthodoxies.
Political parties will come and go, but India is too precious a
civilisational entity to be used as a pawn on the chessboard of
opportunist politics. I am not interested in exploring the `Idea of
India'; my idea of India is anchored in the vast array of knowledge and
wisdom derived from saints, sages, poets, writers and musicians, and my
interest lies in my country's survival as a civilisational entity. That
is what the Progressive Writers' Association, pioneered by men like Prem
Chand, Sajjad Zaheer and Mulk Raj Anand, stood for. They embodied a
vision that has not ceased to be relevant even after the collapse of
socialism. An apt tribute to these men, some of whom made huge
sacrifices for freedom, would be to preserve some of the values they
represented.

An apt tribute to Jafri, the symbol of our cultural renaissance, would
be not to strangulate the language that he wrote in. So often he would
say that the unfair and harsh treatment meted out to Urdu, the language
of Mir Taqi Mir, Ghalib, Iqbal and Raghupati Sahay `Firaq', does damage
to the secular foundations of our society. Perhaps, he was asking for
the moon. In some ways, Jafri was a victim of the criminal neglect of
our society; sadly, there wasn't enough in the family kitty to pay for
his medical expenses. His wife Sultana had to depend on the goodwill of
loyal friends. But, in many other ways, her late husband was a lucky
man. Unlike Ghalib, he received recognition during his lifetime: the
prestigious Janpith award came in handy for the dwindling family
fortunes.

All said and done, Jafri was fortunate enough to be a witness to, and an
active participant in, some of the tumultuous events of this century. He
observed and commented on the rise and fall of colonialism. He shared
the agony and pain of living under the British and protested strongly,
along with Faiz Ahmad Faiz and scores of other Hindi, Bengali and Urdu
writers, against colonial rule. He shared the joy of freedom, but
bemoaned the vivisection of India. He envisioned a socialist world but
saw its painful demise in the land of Lenin and Stalin.

He spoke for the poor and the hungry and constructed pictures of a
society that encouraged the young to envisage possibilities which
otherwise they would not have thought of. He saw his country embroiled
in wars with China and Pakistan but refused to acquiesce in the
hypocritical high moral tone of the governments and their followers.
Here, as Russell wrote of Joseph Conrad, his intense and passionate
nobility shines in my memory like a star seen from the bottom of a well.
I wish I could make this light shine for others as it shone for me.
Allow me to conclude with the following lines:

Neither Chengiz lives any longer, nor Timur,/ What have survived are the
people./ The youthful waves of the ocean of Time/Gush and flow from
eternity to eternity./Ours is a story of the millennia;/For we are
invincible, eternal./We are the designs and patterns of
civilizations;/We are the aspirations of the hearts;/We have been over
engaged in struggles;/We are the sharp swords of history.

This general optimism, although the state of the country makes it
difficult to sustain, is much more likely to lead to good results than
the somewhat lazy cynicism which is becoming all too common. This is not
the moment, Sardar Jafri would have said in his inimitable style, to
deride secularism and mock at multiculturalism.

Copyright =A9 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.

______

#3.

The Hindustan Times
9 August 2000
Editorial

PARIVAR'S LAB

The continuing violence in Surat and tense conditions in other Gujarat
towns are clearly the result of the VHP's and Bajrang Dal's provocative
brand of politics in the aftermath of the Kashmir massacre.

Instead of ensuring that the shock and grief felt over the carnage in
Pahalgam did not inflame communal passions, as any responsible
organisation would try to do, the two Sangh parivar outfits evidently
exploited the event to target the minorities. There is nothing
surprising in their cynicism since the saffron lobby has rarely lost an
opportunity to hold the Indian Muslims responsible for any outrage that
the Kashmiri militants or the Pakistani ISI might commit. But what is
noteworthy is that the VHP and Bajrang Dal have succeeded in vitiating
the communal atmosphere only in Gujarat although they organised bandhs
in several other states.

The reason is not only the latest violence but also the fact that
Gujarat witnessed a series of attacks on Christians in the Dangs region
some time ago while the Keshubhai Patel administration chose to turn a
blind eye. It used to be - and probably still is - one of the BJP's
claims that the party intended to provide a riot-free India. Another of
its claims was that Gujarat was a model state so far as saffron
governance is concerned. Unfortunately, the two assertions have proved
contradictory.

If Gujarat is a model State, it is not a reassuring ideal for the
minorities. Even when they are not specifically targeted, it is no
secret that they live in fear virtually everywhere in the State and even
in areas like the Dangs where there has been a surface calm in recent
times. It will be wrong to believe that the VHP and Bajrang Dal have any
genuine influence or public support. If they have been able to pursue
their violent and intimidatory tactics, it is simply because they know
that they can use their saffron connections to escape the clutches of
the law.

______

#4.

Inter Press Service - Gender and Human Rights Bulletin
7 August, 2000

PAKISTAN: NOT ENOUGH PROTEST AGAINST DEATH PENALTY

By Muddassir Rizvi

ISLAMABAD, Aug 4 (IPS) - Pakistan has been liberal in handing down capital
punishment with more than 4,000 people given the death penalty that rights
groups complain, often involves miscarriage of justice.
However, rights advocates in the country are also said to be not assertive
enough in their demand that this be corrected.
The near absence of a sustained and vocal domestic campaign against capital
punishment is said to be one of the reasons why the country has one of the
largest number of prisoners sentenced to death by low level courts.
"The number of death penalties in 1998 doubled in relation to the previous
year," said a Pakistan Law Commission official. Last year, 122 death
sentences were handed down by various courts.
Forty-nine people were sent to the gallows last year. "The rest have their
appeals pending in higher courts," he said. There are at least 21 women
prisoners who have appealed to higher courts against the death penalty.
"Pakistan appears to have more prisoners on death row than any other countr=
y
in the world," noted a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) report.
The commission is the only domestic rights body to have raised its voice to
back demands for a review of capital punishment.
International rights bodies have long been urging Pakistan to scrap the
death penalty. "We demand that the government abolish the death penalty for
all offences and all offenders," Amnesty International said in a letter to
Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
However, this is considered highly unlikely in a country where executive
decisions are heavily influenced by the Islamic religious orthodoxy.
Hardline religious leaders, who are known to influence all governments, are
even against any reduction in the use of the punishment.
Death penalty is part of Islamic punishment and political observers agree
that any government that does away with it would have to be prepared for a
severe backlash from the religious orthodoxy that can sway public emotions.
"Islam teaches justice (and) calls for eye-for-an-eye. All those forces who
call for the abolition of death punishment are un-Islamic," says a
spokesperson of the Islamic religious party, Jamiat Ulema Islam.
Pakistan Law Commission officials say that the question of abolition of
death penalty has come up for discussion many times. "Since the country's
constitution requires all laws in the country to be interpreted in the ligh=
t
of Islam, the question of scrapping death penalty does not arise," said one
of them.
"However, we can try to make pre-trial and court procedures foolproof so
that only the real perpetrators of heinous crimes get the capital
punishment," he added.
A death sentence can be awarded for a long list of crimes. This includes
murder, gang rape, armed dacoity, sexual assault on minors and blasphemy.
However, critics object to the manner and ease with which capital punishmen=
t
is awarded. Most death punishments since 1997 were handed down by special
anti-terrorist courts set up by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's
government to combat growing terrorist attacks in the country.
These courts hold trials within seven days. Convicted persons have to appea=
l
within seven days and this must also be heard and decided within a week.
"These provisions contravene Article 14(3)(b) of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, which entitles any person charged with a
criminal offence to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation o=
f
his defence" says Nazeer Bhutta, a local lawyer.
"The obsession with quick justice needs to be checked in order to avoid
threat to the due process of law," Pakistan's rights commission said in its
disapproval of these courts.
The HRCP criticism came after the 1997 execution of a person named Maqsood
Ahmed who, it was later proved, had not committed the murder for which he
was hanged.
"Maqsood's was a typical case that established flaws in our system of
justice...the country may have executed so many innocent Maqsoods. We have
to get over with our obsession to punish criminals with death. It has never
proved to be a deterrent," said Malik Sarwar, a law student at a local
college.
The judicial system has also been faulted for delayed processing of appeals
against the death sentence. Some 3,600 people are living in overcrowded
prisons in the Punjab province waiting for the disposal of their appeals
against capital punishment.
"The government must simplify the appeal process since in many cases
prisoners have to wait for up to 10 years in jails, even if they are
innocent," said another local lawyer.
Although the military government has abolished death penalty for offenders
under the age of 18 years, according to Punjab Jail Prison Department
statistics, there are at least 50 prisoners still in jails who were given
the death sentence when they were under-18.
A Human Rights Watch report notes that Pakistan is one of the few countries
to have executed juvenile offenders in the 1990s. The report listed the
September 1997 hanging of Shamun Masih in Hyderabad Central Prison.
"Masih had been sentenced to death in August 1991 for an armed robbery and
triple murder committed in 1988, when he was fourteen years old," said the
report.
Rights groups have also disapproved of the Islamic Qisas and Diyat law whic=
h
allows convicts to avoid execution if they can negotiate an agreement with
the family of the victim to pay compensation.
"We believe that the law advantages the rich and makes life and death
negotiable entities. There are reports of convicts waiting under the gallow=
s
while their families bargain for their lives," said Amnesty in its letter t=
o
Musharraf. (END/IPS/ap-hd/mr/mu/00)

______________________________________________
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